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She was ready for him today. She now knew what it is exactly that triggered his anger. He wants everything to go his way. When it doesn’t or if someone objects, he becomes aggressive. When she tells this to her parents and her sister, they refuse to believe her. In front of them and to the rest of the world he was a perfect person. A wonderful husband, a doting father, a respectful son in law, an understanding brother in law, these were terms that she heard from them each time she tried to hint something about his anger. She is exaggerating, they said. They tell her to adjust and to try and not irritate him.

She knew if she kept answering back to him, his anger would heighten. This was the last chance she had to let the demon out in front of her family before he went on his office tour to Europe. He did not know that the family was visiting that day. He came home as usual from work to find the home in a bit of a mess. That was enough to get him started. She had told her family to wait in her baby boy’s bedroom and not come out until she comes to get them.

The fight entered it obvious stage of rage in no time and he lashed out at her. At this instant the family rushed in to rescue her. Now they knew the truth behind that innocent face. He was a good provider and her son would be looked after well if she stayed on in this relationship. But they knew she would be able to give her son a good life by herself too. Even with the limited resources she has , she will survive on her own with a bit of support from them.

Limited, adjective: Restricted in size, amount, or extent; few, small, or short; (of a monarchy or government) exercised under limitations of power prescribed by a constitution; (of a person) not great in ability or talents; (of a train or other vehicle of public transportation) making few intermediate stops; express.

You might want to read the previous chapters of Falling Apart before reading this chapter.

The reunion

The much awaited weekend had finally arrived. The girls couldn’t contain their excitement. They had never seen the new house that their father and brother had rented till now. It would be a nice experience. The visitation days always left the kids with only either of their parents around. Sometimes if the kids had a camp to attend or some other event planned, they would miss out on the opportunity to see each other. It had been nearly a year since the entire family shared a meal together!

Sad how situations change so drastically is such a short period of time. But today was not meant for feeling sad about anything. Each and every member of this family was all set to enjoy this reunion as much as it was possible too. They were so excited about it that the email exchanges had turned out to be quite emotional among the kids. The three kids used to chat often with each other and they were indeed as close as ever emotionally. But being able to spend time with each other in person was indeed something to look forward to.

Their parents were loveable people when dealt with separately. But when they met , things changed for the worse. Even though the intensity of the anger had reduced over the year, their parents weren’t exactly friends anymore. Friendly terms, yes, for the sake of the kids, but friends, no. This was strange for the kids to witness. They had grown up watching the friendship and love between their parents. Relationships can be complicated indeed. The three children had matured a lot in the past year. The divorce had brought the children closer to one another too. Their parents’ anxiety and their anger were no longer a frustration for them. Between them they would always talk about getting the parents together again. They knew that their parents were incomplete without each other. They just needed a way to make their parents realise this. Somehow!

The girls were dressed up and ready even before their mother was that morning. They then pushed for their grandmother to get ready quickly too. Their mother had to make a stop at the bakery to pick up the cake before heading for their destination.

***

Finally the girls were behaving like giggling teenagers again, thought Shreya. She held on to her mother’s hand as their group of four headed towards the door. The girls had gifts in their hands. One for their father and one for their brother, the ones they picked up from their mother’s wardrobe.

It was indeed a happy reunion for the kids. The grandmother got busy with hugging and kissing her grandson to her heart’s content. Shreya’s eyes were moist when she looked around for Nayan. His eyes were moist too at the sight of the reunion. He was holding a gift in his hands. Shreya walked towards him with the cake box in her hand.

They stood facing each other for a few moments. Both unable to say anything. Shreya opened her cake box and titled it for Nayan to see. Iced on it were the words “I am sorry”. This brought about an unusual reaction on Nayan’s face. A smirk , a crooked smile, a “I told you so” smile? She wasn’t sure.

Nayan then unwrapped his gift and placed it in Shreya’s arms. It was a cute white teddy bear, with a red heart in its hands that said in white “I am sorry”.

Thank you for your support and encouragement dear readers. Without these , I would have given up a long time ago. Even though I am supposed to feel happy that I managed to complete the challenge and the story, this end has left me feeling a bit sad. I was enjoying making up this story one post a time. I hope to try this once again someday soon! BEWARE! 😀

You might want to read the previous chapters of Falling Apart before reading this chapter.

A Party

When Rhea and Shikha came back from tuitions, they were surprised to find their mom already at the dining table sipping her cup of tea. That’s two days “home early from office” in a row. This cannot be good they thought as they gave each other that “oh no!” look. They dumped their bags on the sofa and sat down at the table in front of their milk and snacks.

Rama joined her daughter and her grand daughters at the table with her cup of tea too. She too was clueless as to what was on Shreya’s mind. Even though all of them were quiet, everyone knew what the other was thinking about. Shreya’s state the previous evening had not been explained to them. The kids were dying to know what happened.

Shreya tells them about the promotion and how yesterday she had got the letter of confirmation and she had planned to celebrate it. She told them the reason their father had cancelled the plan of joining them yesterday. The girls looked more sad than ever at this point. They were afraid if they would ever see their brother again!

What Shreya said next put them at ease. She said as per visitation rights, she was due to meet Nischal this weekend. And their father’s meeting with them was also due. Shreya had fixed it up with Nayan to meet up for a lunch party at his house. She had spoke to Mina and told her decorate Nayan’s home. She would arrange the food to be brought over. She thought it would be nice if Nischal had good memories of family togethers in his new home.

The atmosphere in the home changed instantly. The girls were already hugging their mother and telling her that it was a brilliant idea. They were already chatting about what to wear for the party as they made their way to their room.

Shreya turned towards her mother, who was staring at her for quite some time. Shreya got up and went towards her and hugged her tightly. Rama couldn’t control her tears anymore. The strength that her daughter was showing was something that she herself lacked. Shreya was indeed more like her father. He always had a solution for everything!

The mother – daughter duo spend a few minutes in silence. Both were unable to speak. Words sometimes don’t do justice to the feelings. This was one such moment for them. Saying something would have ruined the moment for sure. It was Rama who broke the silence and started to clear the table as she wiped her tears away. Shreya picked up her mobile to make arrangements for the lunch party. Smiling and wiping off tears at the same time.

Life does throw challenges at us at every turn. She needed to face them as boldly as she could. Her family, her career, their future everything depended on her decisions too. However trivial the decisions maybe, they always have a good impact, if the intentions are good.

***

Nayan was surprised at the lunch party idea that he had just been informed about. He was working from home that day and he was able to share it with Nischal then itself. Shreya had got busy talking to Mina after informing him the details. Nischal’s face had brightened up at this news. Looking at his son now, Nayan realized that his fever would subside soon too.

Nischal was already making plans as to how to welcome his sisters to his new home. The father- son duo were smiling more than they had in the past year as they planned on what gifts to buy for the girls.

To be Continued……

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I am planning a 31 part story this month. (God bless me and my readers) 😀

You might want to read the previous chapters of Falling Apart before reading this chapter.

Regrets

The past year had been a tiring one for Shreya. Once the divorce was finalized, both Nayan and herself were working towards making the kids understand and adjust. Separating the kids was not a good idea at all. At that point in time, all the frustrations that were building up in her came out all at one go and she lost control of her emotions.

Nayan too could be given that benefit of doubt. After all , she had accused him of something really serious. Initially , during the heat of argument, Shreya compared it to what Nayan had accused her of with Ravin. But now , when she sits down with a cool head, she realises that Nayan had been more mature in dealing with that.

What she couldn’t forgive was the fact that Nayan had started yelling and shouting and taking out his frustrations in front of the kids and the maid. This had lasted for months together, before she finally decided to separate from him. She didn’t want the kids to be effected by the constant fights.

Life was not the same as it was before. Nischal and Nayan were missed every single day. Their family photo hanging in the front room was a painful reminder of the fun times that they once had in this very home. Shreya felt guilty about splitting her family.

She couldn’t understand how she had managed to lose control of her emotions. Both Nayan and herself had been mature enough in all decisions up until that point. What flawed that perfection? Or maybe things were not as perfect as she thought they were. Maybe there were resentment before too. But they rarely voiced those resentment or issues. They had chosen to ignore them and act like adults.

That is the volcano that burst that day and the days that followed. Shreya always thought she was open with her feelings all the time with her family. But she realized now that she had kept certain irritations to herself. Nayan hated confrontations, so he surely kept things to himself too. They both needed an outlet and Shreya’s accusation had just been the trigger.

All Shreya had to do was tell Nayan about her doubts about Mina. They could have jointly investigated and found a solution to it. But in her twisted mind, due to a lack of proper judgement just for an instant, she ended up accusing her husband.

The kids were struggling with the new living adjustment. Since Nayan needed help with Nischal at home, Mina accompanied them to the new apartment. Even though the girls were old enough to manage on their own at home after school, Shreya thought it better to have someone to keep an eye on them at all times. The world was not a safe place for children. And children who are at home alone were easy targets. She requested her mother to join them. And her mother had turned out to be both relief and a big help to her.

Mina was due to be married to her boyfriend soon and she would shift out into her husband’s apartment. What will Nayan do then? Shreya could sense a headache come on. She was at her office that day, not being able to concentrate on work at all. She had managed to get a promotion two days ago and had planned to share the joy of it with her entire family.

Nayan had backed out at the last minute. He said such get togethers made it more difficult for Nischal to adjust to the new arrangement. He wants to spare their son the agony of walking out of the apartment leaving his family behind every single time they met up. Who else but Shreya could understand this better. Watching her son walk out of the house with his father had been the most painful experience of her life. And she wasn’t willing to relive those again and again either!

To be Continued……

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I am planning a 31 part story this month. (God bless me and my readers) 😀

You might want to read the previous chapters of Falling Apart before reading this chapter.

The Storm

How is he to forgive such an accusation?

Shreya had her doubts that Mina was having an affair with someone. She was being very secretive all of a sudden. She would spend a lot of time on her phone whenever she took a break and would be smiling and humming away while doing her chores. Being at home most of the time, it was unlikely that she knew anybody else here who she could be talking to. She also noticed that Mina had such phone calls only when Nayan was not home.

Nayan’s closeness to her and doing things out of the way for Mina and her brother had triggered the feeling in her. Added to that was Nayan’s aloofness and his suddenly turning into a private person. Shreya was overwhelmed with all the changes in her life and had come to the conclusion that it was Nayan and Mina who were having an affair.

Being frank as she always had been, she confronted Nayan with this. That was the first time that they had a yelling match at home. Nayan was beyond furious at such an accusation. But instead of talking it over like adults should, they started an accusation war. Pointing fingers at each other and blaming each other for everything that was wrong in their life.

Shreya felt that Nayan cared more for Mina than herself because it was Mina who took care of the kids. She went on to say that she’s started work again only to support him. She would have loved to stay back and take care of the children any day.

He retaliates with Ravin’s case and how Shreya now has a full social life that kept her away from home and her family. Her perfectionist behaviour and her OCD about cleanliness also came into conversation. Silly petty things that can be easily ignored came into the open. Their fights continued for weeks on end. Each not willing to give up and apologise.

It was when the kids began to get upset that they would stop yelling. But only to start off again on the slightest provocation. Even when the truth of Mina’s affair with the Grocery owner downstairs came out and things were done to solve that issue, the fights did not stop.

Shreya had tried to apologize to Nayan many times. But their fights had brought up ego issues. Their irritation of each other grew with each passing day, until the time that they finally couldn’t take it anymore. They filed for divorce on mutual consent. But when it came to the custody of their children, they couldn’t come to a viable solution. Neither of them wanted to give up any of their children.

With the intervention of their lawyers and Nayan’s cousins, it was decided that the girls would stay with Shreya and their son would stay with Nayan. Both parents would get visiting rights and since everything was mutually agreed upon, they had to stick to their side of the deal.

To be Continued……

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I am planning a 31 part story this month. (God bless me and my readers) 😀

You might want to read the previous chapters of Falling Apart before reading this chapter.

The Silence

The house wasn’t the only thing that changed. Shreya sensed a sort of disapproval from Nayan’s side. She had explained to him about her relationship with Ravin and he seemed alright with the decision. But then there was something amiss. Those quiet evenings to himself, those subtle changes in attitude.

Come evening everyone in the house was busy in their own rooms. The kids had homework had to complete. Nischal’s routine was managed by Mina. She even helped him with his homework these days. That meant a lot of free time for Shreya and Nayan. But he preferred his newspapers and his cricket telecasts.

Soon Shreya got into the habit of reading books again. She had lost touch with this interest of hers in the busy life she had lived since the birth of her first child. She started building a life of her own amongst her books, work and friends. She renewed some of her old friendships and began going out more often with them. Her contacts with Ravin were reduced to a few email exchanges on special occasions. But they knew what was happening in each other’s lives all the time.

Ravi had met someone and was enjoying his courtship with her. Shreya was happy when finally one day, Ravin changed his relationship status on Facebook to ” In a relationship”. She shared all these with Nayan too. Life was indeed back to normal. In fact better than normal.

It was almost a year since she had gotten back from Banglaore, that she sensed something different about Mina. She was become more close to everyone in her family in her absence. Her behaviour was still gentle and quiet. But there definitely was something going on in her life. Her brother was in Dubai too and she would go on weekends to help him with his laundry and cook some food for him and keep in the fridge. She was indeed a very good elder sister to Madan.

Shreya would often find Mina talking to Nayan about Madan. Mina herself was an ambitious person. But she seemed more ambitious on her brother’s behalf. She enrolled him into correspondence course with Nayan’s help. She wanted to educate him further. She managed to get Nayan to do everything needed for that.

Shreya was not the kind who doesn’t like to help the poor and the less fortunate. But she felt that Nayan was being taken for granted by Mina. He did everything he could to help Madan. She brought it up with Nayan one day. He just brushed it off. His logic was that Mina was doing a good job of taking care of the house and their kids. They owed her this much at least. What if Mina left in search of a better paying job to help out her brother? Wouldn’t it upset their lives?

There was no arguing there, Mina was indeed an important part of their family. It was not this but another incident that triggered the first visible crack in their relationship. It happened almost a year later.

To be Continued……

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I am planning a 31 part story this month. (God bless me and my readers) 😀